Erste Asset Management GmbH Acquires New Shares in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT)

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 216,857 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $17,403,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Walmart by 479.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,479,259 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,492,200,000 after purchasing an additional 15,290,936 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Walmart by 12.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,135,639 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,098,203,000 after buying an additional 7,200,004 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 8,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,963,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $562,280,000 after buying an additional 6,885,106 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Walmart by 16.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,282,129 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,102,463,000 after buying an additional 2,246,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Walmart by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 47,659,844 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $3,848,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,107,197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walmart news, major shareholder Alice L. Walton sold 2,375,563 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.96, for a total value of $182,823,328.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 619,646,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,687,998,026.24. This represents a 0.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 2,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.76, for a total value of $166,607.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 459,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,113,904.08. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,385,186 shares of company stock worth $963,206,365 over the last three months. Company insiders own 45.58% of the company’s stock.

Walmart Price Performance

WMT opened at $92.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $743.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.04. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.85 and a 52-week high of $92.64.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $169.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.69 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 2.92% and a return on equity of 21.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Walmart Inc. will post 2.47 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on Walmart from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Walmart from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Walmart from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Walmart from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Walmart from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.88.

About Walmart

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.